America: The Land of the Free-ish
America.
The Land of the Free and equal opportunity.
Has this ever been true or is it still yet to be?
You see four-hundred years back, before the States formed,
Slave ships came from Africa; from their homes they were torn.
The enslaved became property for their owners to use,
On plantations they were branded, flogged and abused.
In the south they sewed crops and the north they sewed socks.
All to build the economy and enrich the stocks.
When the founding fathers put their quill dipped in ink,
To the parchment to layout their beliefs, what they think;
Do you think what they wrote applied to the mass?
Or did it depend on your race, your skin and your class.
How can we declare that “all men are equal,”
But live in a world where people own people?
So, who are the men? Who are the equal?
Thus, white supremacy arose to justify evil.
Husbands and wives, sisters and brothers,
Were separated, sold to be owned by another.
In the south, the law prohibits Blacks to be free,
Even though we’d declared inalienable liberty.
Then ninety years after the declaration was signed,
Slavery was abolished or was it a lie?
The 13th Amendment abolished enslavement of people,
For those labeled “criminal,” they still were not equal.
Criminal. This became the new label for Black men,
The loophole put in, so that White men still win.
Black people now free, the world to discover,
Except for there, no not there, go to signs that say “Color.”
Fountains and buses and schools were divided.
Whites and the “Colored” were still not united.
The United States were not a united people;
Jim Crow made everything “separate but equal.”
Black people were tortured, terrorized and murdered by mobs,
For nothing more than their skin, given by God.
White would hang Black from a tree for no reason,
They would beat them and whip them like it was hunting season.
The fear of the Black man was the White man’s illusion,
To maintain their power through the Constitution.
Civil Rights protests began to rise up,
As the Blacks made it clear: enough is enough.
As they boycott and sit-in and march in the street,
It’s hatred and anger and violence they meet.
The Little Rock Nine were met by the guard,
Freedom Riders were bombed with no regard.
And we’ve all heard about “Bloody Sunday,”
In Selma a peaceful march just was not okay.
Police would use dogs and batons to gain order.
The fire hose became a weapon of water.
The King had a dream that freedom would ring,
Across this great land and the mountains would sing:
“Free At Last, Free At Last,
Thank God All Mighty we are free at last!”
His dream was for America to be free.
A dream that the King would not live to see.
The “War on Drugs” became the new Jim Crow,
With a focus to lockup en masse the “negro.”
While this country stood firm to restore Law and Order,
The focus was to fill every jail cell with color.
The laws that were passed were to cripple Black homes,
To lock up the fathers; mothers to fend on their own.
The justice system favors the guilty with more,
And fails to support the innocent and poor.
We claim in America you’re innocent ‘til proven guilty,
But that only seems true if you are White and you’re wealthy.
The poor, often Black, are presumed to be guilty,
By the court, by the cops, by their very own city.
The Central Park Five are proof of injustice,
From courts and police that are sworn to serve us.
With steep minimum times he must weigh what to plea,
But I thought people are innocent until proven guilty?
He can fight it and hope that the jury believes,
If they don’t it will be decades before he can leave.
If he pleads guilty to cut down the time,
Regardless of innocence concerning the crime,
When he is “free” a different world it will be,
He can’t vote, can’t find work, due to his felony.
No parental rights or the right to bear arms,
He can’t travel abroad, who knows who he’ll harm.
But all this aside, it is better than prison.
A Black man has six times the chance of conviction,
For the same crime committed by a man who is White.
Is the court still what you’d call a fair fight?
Ninety-four percent of cases end in a plea bargain,
Often admitting guilt for a crime he’s not done.
He fears a life locked up, if the jury won’t see,
That he is innocent with nothing to prove him guilty.
Except the color of his skin.
That shouldn’t be part of whether he wins.
ALEC was formed to allow corporations,
To draft their own bills to pass to legislation.
These laws are not passed for the good will of people,
But to line pockets with money of those who are evil.
Trayvon lost his life due to standing one’s ground,
Which was lobbied by Walmart to help sell more rounds.
They privatized prisons, turned jails into profit.
Passed laws to fill cells, more money in their pocket.
Mandatory minimums, three strikes and reducing parole,
Keeps business in green. People’s lives are the toll.
If a person who’s White,
Feels uncomfortable by the sight,
Of a Black kid playing, running or walking,
Or a Black man singing, driving or shopping,
Instead of minding their business or talking to the stranger,
They call the police as if their life is in danger.
Pool Patrol Paula, Permit Patty, BBQ Becky are a few,
Karens can be found everywhere; it is sad but true.
Cops often arrive with a presumption of guilt,
The color of skin means the case can be built.
Police become the jury and then judge with a sentence,
And then the executioner to carry out vengeance.
While this does not reflect all those who wear blue,
We’ve seen over time it is more than a few.
We have militarized cops as if they are armed forces,
Give them weapons and armor but leave out the courses.
The police force is meant to serve and protect.
Too often Black and death is the cause and effect.
The blue with a badge shoots the unarmed, left to bleed.
A knee to the neck, chokehold, “I can’t breathe.”
Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, John Crawford and Atatiana Jefferson,
Sam Dubose, Jamar Clark, Eric Harris and Michael Brown,
Laquan McDonald, Freddie Gray, Kajieme Powell and Rekia Boyd,
Sandra Bland, Ahmaud Arbury, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.
This list could go on.
This list will still grow.
These aren’t just stats and numbers but real people who breathed,
But their life was just taken away for no need.
They were playing and shopping and driving their car.
They sold cigarettes and CDs to survive. To provide.
Most cases the police should not be involved.
Shooting and choking does not help resolve.
To think we are free and have justice for all,
Is not what this country has shown, as we brawl.
From Nixon and Reagan to Bush and then Clinton,
Presidents profit from fear and division.
Most notably due to a platform called Twitter,
Trump can spread fear and division like litter.
In the 80s and 90s, politicians spread fear by all means,
Labeling “crack heads,” “super-predators” and “welfare queens.”
To convince us the enemy was drugs and the poor.
To “get tough” keeps us safe, to live and prosper.
Trump claims that Mexico sends drugs, rapists, but not their best.
He calls Africa a “shit-hole,” Baltimore a “rodent infested mess.”
Calls white supremacists “good people” and looters all “Thugs.”
But the church somehow sweeps all this under the rug.
We build prisons and walls to keep in and keep out.
While we say we are free, the world has its doubts.
We want to “Make America Great Again.”
Great for who? Not for all.
Kaepernick was black-balled for taking a knee.
NBA players wore, “I can’t breathe.”
Rams show support with their “Hands up don’t shoot.”
“Shut up and dribble.” Lebron’s message they mute.
Whether the Civil Rights movement, which was primarily peaceful,
Or the Athletes or Actors who speak for oppressed people,
It’s never the time or the place to speak out,
Then we wonder why violence and looting abounds.
We have come a long way, but there’s still far to go.
To get there we must all be willing to grow.
We must listen and learn and examine within,
Then question and challenge and change not our skin,
But embrace all our differences, our past, where we’ve been,
Regardless of race and the color of our skin.
The White community and leaders must lead in the call,
To bring justice, equality and liberty to all.
As the oppressed cannot give what they do not have yet,
Like the men of 1920 who helped the suffragette.
When this country was founded and the document signed,
They only had the White men in mind.
All people of color as well as White women,
Deserve the unalienable rights we were given.
Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,
Is what we deserve, but for now it’s a wish.
Do we dream like America or do we dream like a King?
Does it have to be different? Can it be the same dream?
Justice for all and equal opportunity,
The Land of the Free is what America still aspires to be.